


Holding On

by Kay (sincere)



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Teenagers, Thunderwar Week, and how to annoy them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-23
Updated: 2013-09-23
Packaged: 2017-12-27 11:03:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/978073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sincere/pseuds/Kay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are not many phoenixes left in the realms. Just enough for a couple of excitable Asgardian youths to spy a once-in-a-lifetime event that resonates deep. In which Sif and the boys find their phoenix, and are chased down a mountain.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Holding On

**Author's Note:**

> For #Thunderwar Week on Tumblr, written to the fic_promptly Dreamwidth community prompt, "as children they saw a phoenix", with the theme of rebirth/resurrection.

They crested the ridge before they heard the cry. Sif asked in a hushed voice, "Is that it?" in the heartbeat before Thor snapped, "Low to the ground! Quick!"

Sif dropped into a crouch readily and Loki, beside her, went down on all fours, his eyes wide and his muscles tense. They both watched Thor as he slipped ahead, slow and cautious movements bringing him further down the narrow path. They were all perfectly still, and Sif even found that she was holding her breath. She let it out again quickly, annoyed at herself.

"Wait here," she murmured to Loki, and edged ahead silently.

"Stop!" he hissed. "If we're spotted--"

"Then you'd best wait here and keep your mouth shut so you don't give us away," she said under her breath.

She wasn't about to let Thor have all the fun. And Thor's eyes were not as sharp as hers, and his reflexes not as good -- naturally he would need her assistance. As if _she_ would give them away. Thor was the only one of them who trod so heavy he startled birds out of the trees. All the more reason for her to go up beside him, so that she could warn him if he risked giving them away.

And besides... she wasn't about to let Thor have all the fun.

She was pretty certain she heard Loki mutter a disparaging, " _Girls,_ " behind her, which she made a mental note to make him regret later. But right now the more important thing was to make her way to where Thor was still inching forward, on the lookout for the source of the noise.

"Any idea where it is?"

Thor said quietly, "I would've called you if I had."

"I wasn't about to wait," she returned, and then inched forward ahead of him.

The trees and brush were thick around them, clouding visibility to their front and left; the cliffside was steep and sharp, and in the far expanse of sky and landscape visible to them from their vantage point, she could not see the creature.

"Maybe that wasn't it?" Thor breathed. "I thought these things were supposed to be very--"

Another screech sounded from right above them, and Sif quickly slid back into the bushes, as quietly as she could manage. Thor's entry was less graceful, with a crashing sound that made her hold her breath again anxiously, but when she heard the vast swoop of wings overhead, the unease fled.

The phoenix flew down so low it almost brushed the path before it lifted up again to land on a ledge not far from them, perched elegantly on the edge with its long tailfeathers trailing off the side. It was a magnificent sight: its vast wings adorned with white plumage that turned to gold, and the tips of every feather seeming alight, flickering merrily with flame. The tailfeathers alone must have been fifteen feet long, and they blazed brightly with fire, sending off sparks every few heartbeats. 

It was _very_ recognizable.

"We found it..." Sif stared at it in wonder, mesmerized by the sight.

Thor craned his head back over his shoulder, looking down the path they had traveled again; he mumbled, "We must tell Loki-- He'll miss it."

"I'm not deaf," Loki's voice said irritably. It was pitched low, but Sif could vaguely tell that he must be up a tree nearby.

"Ah, good," Thor said with relief, and then he too was looking at the phoenix again, fascinated.

It was such a beautiful creature, a force of nature mysterious and arcane. They were rare, and seeing one was known as a sign of great luck and good fortune; which of course was what had inspired three adventurous adolescents to go seek one out.

Sif was so wrapped up in the magnificence that she could not have seen anything but the perfection of the moment, and so it was Loki who pointed out softly, "It's dying."

"What?" Sif asked, startled, starting to turn to him, and saw a pale, pointed face and green eyes in the canopy, his own attention focused on the phoenix.

"Look at its tail," he murmured. "See how it is dark at its core, as though it has been burned through? Like a candle wick that can no longer hold a flame... And the fire is so dim."

When she returned her gaze to the phoenix, she saw it: the way the core feathers of its tail were so dark, giving off those pale sparks half-heartedly every few beats; the way the flame burned so close to it, as if about to go out.

"Have we come all this way to watch a legendary creature die?" she whispered, her chest tightening with regret. She wondered briefly if there was something they could do -- if it was ill, or starving.

Something brushed her hand, and Sif started to jerk away, startled, but Thor's fingers had hers thoroughly captured in his warm grasp. She met his eyes, for a bit, and he looked back at her with his own gaze unwavering and sad.

Sif felt the touch warm her slowly, unwinding the pain in her chest.

Then his eyes jerked away, and he asked quietly, "What's that sound?"

She hadn't heard anything, distracted. Sif looked up again at the ledge where the phoenix perched, still holding on to its outermost rim; then it came clearly, a small noise, tentative and quiet, inquisitive.

The next time she heard it, she was sure. "A hatchling," she said. "It has a chick in the nest."

"Of course," Loki exclaimed, almost too loud, and Sif shushed him quickly. He continued, lower, "Mother told me phoenixes mate basically forever. They live for thousands of years, and when one of them is close to death and then is reborn, its mate cares for it until it is grown. Then it also dies, and the now-adult phoenix cares for its reborn mate."

"When did Mother tell you that?" Thor asked, somewhat jealously.

" _Shhh!_ " Sif said again, squeezing his hand and biting her nails into his skin. Thor turned his attention back on her and mouthed _ow_ , his expression hurt but his eyes dancing.

Then they were both quiet for a moment, and she looked up at the phoenix again, bent over the nest. She could just make out what must be the beak of the hatchling, reaching up to touch the beak of the dying phoenix.

Its mate, she thought. The one it cared for more than anything in the world, who was caring for it with all it had left, holding on and waiting so patiently until they could be together again.

And she was very aware of Thor's hand, still holding hers tightly, perhaps even tighter than before. The rough warmth of his touch made her feel strange, distracted from the awe-inspiring sight in front of her, a sight that few ever got to see. She wondered how the phoenix knew when it had found the one it would be willing to wait for. She wondered if it was a feeling like this.

"It must be strange to raise your beloved from an infant," Thor murmured.

It was too easy. Without her conscious volition, Sif's mouth said, "Whoever marries you will know the feeling well, as you've never been anything _but_ an infant."

And then Thor laughed, loud and ringing, and he was still laughing when the phoenix launched itself into the air with a screech and Sif yanked him to his feet and Loki fell out of his tree with a curse.

The story of how they saw a legendary creature and were chased off a mountain by it was oft-told thereafter. But there were parts of it that Sif felt were just for her, and she held onto them for a long time.


End file.
